A Birth Control Pill For Men?

Gene Discovery Could Lead To Birth Control Pill For Men -- FOX News

When it comes to birth control, numerous options are available to women to help them regulate their menstrual cycle and prevent ovulation. But what if a birth control pill for men were available?

That prospect may soon become a reality now that researchers at the University of Edinburgh have recently discovered a gene that is essential for the development of sperm. Their study, published in the journal PLos Genetics, highlights the gene Katnal1, which causes temporary infertility in male mice when blocked.

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My Comment: There is a market for this .... albeit probably not as big as it is for women.

The Easter Island Heads Also Have BODIES

Here's something not many people know: The Easter Island statues have bodies which go down many feet

Hidden Treat: The Easter Island Heads Also Have BODIES -- Daily Mail

The enduring image in the public's mind of the mysterious heads on Easter Island is simply that - heads.

So it comes as quite a shock to see the heads from another angle - and discover that they have full bodies, extending down many, many feet into the ground of the island.

The Easter Island Statue Project has been carefully excavating two of 1,000-plus statues on the islands - doing their best to uncover the secrets of the mysterious stones, and the people who built them, as best they can.

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My Comment: Something has to keep those heads erect.

SpaceX Makes History With Dragon Docking

Image Credit: NASA TV

SpaceX Makes History With Dragon Docking -- Red Orbit

SpaceX made history today as its Dragon capsule became the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station.

Dragon launched on Tuesday, May 22 at 3:44 a.m. from Cape Canaveral towards the ISS, reaching the orbiting laboratory on Thursday.

SpaceX had to perform a series of tests before being given the go-ahead by NASA to attempt to dock Dragon with the station.

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My Comment: Congrats on a job well done.

Google Says It Removes 1 Million Infringing Links Monthly

Google Says It Removes 1 Million Infringing Links Monthly -- Threat Level

Each month, Google removes more than 1 million links to infringing content such as movies, video games, music and software from its search results — with about half of those requests for removal last month coming from Microsoft.

The search and advertising giant revealed the data Thursday as it released sortable analytics on the massive number of copyright takedown requests it receives — adding to its already existing data on the number of times governments ask for users’ personal data.

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My Comment: In all the years of my blogging, I have had only one image removed from this blog, and 4 images from my other blogs and websites. In everyone of these cases, I thought that the images were in the public domain.

Polio Remains Endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan And Afghanistan

Polio Remains Endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan And Afghanistan: Health Officials -- International Business Times

Although polio has been eradicated across much of the world, the disease remains endemic in Nigeria, Pakistan, Chad and Afghanistan, according to an international group.

Moreover, according to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI), gaps in funding and insufficient immunization programs raises the threat of polio transmission in many countries.

GPEI is affiliated with the World Health Organization (WHO).

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My Comment: With wars ongoing in these regions, I cannot see a polio vaccination program in place.

When Creative Machines Overtake Man

When Creative Machines Overtake Man -- Kurzweil Artificial Intelligence

Machine intelligence is improving rapidly, to the point that the scientist of the future may not even be human! In fact, in more and more fields, learning machines are already outperforming humans. As noted in this transcript of a talk at TEDxLausanne on Jan. 20, 2012, artificial intelligence expert Jürgen Schmidhuber isn’t able to predict the future accurately, but he explains how machines are getting creative, why 40‚000 years of Homo sapiens-dominated history are about to end soon, and how we can try to make the best of what lies ahead.

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New Sensory Organ Found In Whales

A baby humpback whale plays at the surface. Biologists recently discovered that humpback whales have a sensory organ in their chin. Credit: iStockphoto

New Sensory Organ Found In Whales -- Cosmos/AFP

PARIS: Biologists have discovered a new sensory organ on blue, humpback, minke and fin whales that helps explain why these mammals are so huge.

In a study appearing in the journal Nature, researchers in the United States and Canada said the organ is located at the tip of the whale's chin, in a niche of fibrous tissue that connects the lower jaw bones.

Comprising a node of nerves, the organ orchestrates dramatic changes in jaw position that are essential for "lunge" feeding by the rorqual family of whales, Earth's biggest vertebrates.

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My Comment: We learn something new everyday.

Will Humans Communicate With Dolphions One Day?

Could we someday be able to talk to dolphins? Here, Beau Richter monitors the breath-holding capability of Puka, a bottlenose dolphin at UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory. T. M. Williams/UCSC

Device May Let Humans Communicate With Dolphins -- Discovery News

A prototype dolphin speaker projects the full range of all dolphin-made sounds.

* Dolphins communicate in sounds beyond our realm of perception.
* A new device can project the wide range of sounds that dolphin used.
* The hope is one day it may be used to communicate with the smart animals.

A new dolphin speaker device could one day help us talk with these remarkably intelligent life forms, scientists say.

Dolphins live in a world of sound far beyond our own. They can distinguish very small differences in the frequency or pitch of sound waves, and can hear and generate low-frequency sounds below 20 kilohertz that lie within human capabilities, as well as high-frequency sounds of up to more than 150 kilohertz, well beyond the range of our hearing. In addition, dolphins not only can produce tones just as humans do, but they can also communicate at a variety of frequencies simultaneously. With whistles, burst-pulse sounds and clicks, dolphins use sound not only to communicate and to scan their surroundings and prey in the dark sea (called echolocation).

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My Comment: The day that such a communication is achieved ..... that will be an incredible day.

A Backpack Radar That Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres

Backpack Radar Can Detect Ambushers Within 150 Acres -- Popular Science

If you’re a soldier suspecting an ambush, you probably don’t have much time to spare, and you definitely can’t afford to be carrying any unnecessary weight. That’s why so much military tech involves shrinking whatever’s portable, and why, now, a company has thrown its radar-in-a-backpack into the ring.

The SpotterRF M600C weighs four pounds, uses just 10 watts of energy, and looks like the headrest on the driver’s seat of a jalopy (which is a good thing). If ambusher or otherwise comes within 150 acres, the system tracks it, no matter what the weather conditions are.

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My Comment: I can see them improving this tech to cover even greater territory.

Scientists Are Now Beginning To Have An Understand Of The Full Impact Bomb Blasts Have On A Soldier's Brain

Safe detonation of IED, Afghanistan 2012. Wikipedia

Study Measures Impact Of Bomb Blasts On Soldiers' Brains -- ABC News (Australia)

Scientists have begun to understand the full impact bomb blasts have on the brains of those who live through them.

Over the past decade, scores have been killed and maimed by improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now new US research compares the survivors to concussed athletes.

Unfortunately the symptoms mimic and often overlap with those of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) - and that is now a big problem for the Australian Defence Force.

Boston University neuroscientist Dr Lee Goldstein has replicated a typical IED blast and examined the effects on mice.

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My Comment: More research and faster results please.

A Look At How The U.S. Navy Transports Damaged Ships

A load of ship: The Blue Marlin gives the USS Cole a piggy-back as it heads to Mississippi

The Day One Boat Gave Another A Piggyback Following Suicide Bomber Attack On US Navy Ship -- Daily Mail

Here is something you don't see every day - one ship giving another a piggy-back.

This intriguing image is not a Photoshopped picture or a disaster of Titanic proportions, instead it is the Blue Marlin, a 217-metre, semi-submersible ship, designed to carry tremendous loads, giving a helping hand to the USS Cole.

The ship has been damaged by an Al Qaeda suicide bomber while anchored in Aden, Yemen, in October 2000 - and it is not easy to get the ship home with a 40ft gash in the side.

Following the attack, the U.S. Navy hired the Blue Marlin to get the Cole back home - and probably gave sailors on passing ships something of a shock.

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My Comment: That's one big boat.

A Look At How McLaren Makes Their 'Supercars'

100 years since Henry Ford, production lines still prove their worth - but now computers and robots help the humans

Supercar That Was A Century In The making: McLaren Opens Doors To State-Of-The-Art Factory For New £170,000 MP4-12C 100 Years On From Henry T's Ford -- The Daily Mail

These stunning photographs give a rare insight into the £40million facility which McLaren hopes will make them the supercar world's market leader.

Supercars line the sides of the factory, as 750 experts work together to produce McLaren's first supercar, the £170,000 MP4-12C.

It is a far cry from the dawn of the car industry, when Henry Ford laboured to perfect his methods in Trafford Park, Manchester, exactly 100 years ago - simultaneously transforming the 20th century by the introducing the age of mass assembly by production lines.

Nowadays the cars may have changed, but look beyond the differences and the similarities emerge.

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My Comment: This is so cool. We all see these cars on the street .... but how they are made is just as impressive.

Can Our DNA Be Turned Into A 'Living Hard Drive' Able To Store And Erase Data?

Photo: The idea of storing information in living cells has been the plot of sci-fi fantasies such as Johnny Mnemonic, starring Keanu Reeves - and today it has become reality

Sci-Fi Becomes Reality As DNA Is Turned Into 'Living Hard Drive' Able To Store And Erase Data -- Daily Mail

* Sections of living DNA glow red or green to store computer data
* Could be used like computers inside the body
* DNA storage can be written, rewritten and erased at will
* 'Took us three years and 750 attempts,' says lead researcher

It sounds like the stuff of science fiction fantasies, but scientists have turned living cells into data storage devices - like 'living hard drives'.

The idea of storing computer information inside living cells - or human brains - has formed the plot of sci fi thrillers such as Johnny Mnemonic (pictured).

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My Comment: I am curious to know what will be the storage limit from such a tech if it's developed to it's full potential.

Early Man Had Music And Art 40,000 Years Ago

Jewelry. Geißenklösterle Cave is one of several caves in the Swabian Jura that have produced important examples of personal ornaments, figurative art, mythical imagery and musical instruments. (Credit: Image courtesy of Universitaet Tübingen)

Oldest Art Even Older: New Dates from Geißenklösterle Cave Show Early Arrival of Modern Humans, Art and Music -- Science Daily

ScienceDaily (May 24, 2012) — New dates from Geißenklösterle Cave in Southwest Germany document the early arrival of modern humans and early appearance of art and music.

Researchers from Oxford and Tübingen have published new radiocarbon dates from the from Geißenklösterle Cave in Swabian Jura of Southwestern Germany in the Journal of Human Evolution. The new dates use improved methods to remove contamination and produced ages between began between 42,000 – 43,000 years ago for start of the Aurignacian, the first culture to produce a wide range of figurative art, music and other key innovations as postulated in the Kulturpumpe Hypothesis. The full spectrum of these innovations were established in the region no later than 40 000 years ago.

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My Comment: It looks like that "culturally" we have not changed much in the past 40,000 years.

Stuxnet Still Remains A Top U.S. Security Risk

Image: COMPUTER THREAT: Stuxnet, the computer worm that attacked a ubiquitous form of controller for infrastructure, could still pose challenges in the U.S. Image: flickr/cyberhades

Stuxnet-Like Viruses Remain a Top U.S. Security Risk -- Scientific American

Government officials and security researchers say critical systems should never be connected to the Internet, but they frequently are.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security revealed a rash of cyber attacks on natural gas pipeline companies. Just as with previous cyber attacks on infrastructure, there was no known physical damage. But security experts worry it may only be a matter of time.

Efforts to protect pipelines and other critical systems have been halting despite broad agreement that they're vulnerable to viruses like Stuxnet — the mysterious worm that caused havoc to Iran's nuclear program two years ago.

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My Comment: Stuxnet has been around for a while .... it is troubling to see that they have yet found a way to contain it.

Google Did Not Infringe On Oracle Patents

Android Doesn't Infringe Oracle's Patents, Says Jury -- CNet

SAN FRANCISCO--A jury today unanimously decided that Google did not infringe on two of Oracle's patents.

In the decision at the U.S. District Court of Northern California, the jury in the trial said Google did not infringe on six claims in U.S. Patent No. RE38,104 as well as two claims in U.S. Patent No. 6,061,520.

The verdict is a win for Google, and marks the end of the trial's second phase, which focused on the claims of patent infringement. Closing arguments in the case were made last week. After the decision, a third phase--centering on damages--was canceled.

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Update: Oracle v. Google: Did the jury really understand it? -- ZDNet

My Comment: They will be popping the champagne at Google tonight.

An Awesome Mars Picture

NASA's Mars Rover Opportunity catches its own late-afternoon shadow in this dramatically lit view eastward across Endeavour Crater on Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell/Arizona State Univ.

Mars Rover Snaps Intriguing Crater Pic -- BBC

PASADENA, Calif., May 23 (UPI) -- NASA's Mars rover Opportunity has used a low sun angle in the Martian evening to help capture a memorable image of a large crater, the space agency says.

Mars Exploration Rover used its panoramic camera between about 4:30 and 5:00 p.m. local Mars time to record images taken through several different filters, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a release Tuesday.

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My Comment: Awesome pic .... and I am surprised on how much sunlight is present. Makes you wish you were there.

Yahoo Unveils New Search Software For Apple

Yahoo Launches Axis Browser -- Washington Post

Yahoo has launched a new browser for Apple’s mobile devices called Axis. The browser, which is also available on desktops through plug-ins for the four major browsers, is designed to let you move between your devices and look at the same searches.

Search results show up as thumbnails on users’ home screens, to which you can pin favorites or pages to read later. The home screens also feature what searches you conducted on other devices through Axis, though it takes a couple of minutes to sync. Users will have to sign in to Yahoo accounts to use syncing.

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My Comment: It looks impressive.

An Environmental Apocalypse Soon?

Tojo, Indonesia: A villager walks through a burnt forest after a slash and burn practice to open the land for agriculture. Photograph: Yusuf Ahmad/Reuters

Apocalypse Soon: Has Civilization Passed The Environmental Point Of No Return? -- Scientific American

Although there is an urban legend that the world will end this year based on a misinterpretation of the Mayan calendar, some researchers think a 40-year-old computer program that predicts a collapse of socioeconomic order and massive drop in human population in this century may be on target.

Remember how Wile E. Coyote, in his obsessive pursuit of the Road Runner, would fall off a cliff? The hapless predator ran straight out off the edge, stopped in midair as only an animated character could, looked beneath him in an eye-popping moment of truth, and plummeted straight down into a puff of dust. Splat!

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My Comment: I have always been a skeptic of such predictions .... believing that man and nature will always find ways to overcome such obstacles and limitations. In fact .... we are already experiencing depopulation in many first world nations .... and it has nothing to do with changes in the environment but changes in social behavior and personal decisions.

NSA Is Now Partnering With Select Universities To Train Select Students

NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland

NSA Teams Up With Colleges to Train Students for Secret Cyber-Ops Jobs -- Threat Level

The National Security Agency is partnering with select universities to train students in cyber operations for intelligence, military and law enforcement jobs, work that will remain secret to all but a select group of students and faculty who pass clearance requirements, according to Reuters.

The cyber-operations curriculum is part of the Obama administration’s national initiative to improve cybersecurity through education, and is designed to prepare students for jobs with the U.S. Cyber Command, the NSA’s signals intelligence operations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies that investigate cyber crimes.

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Update: Exclusive: Spy agency seeks cyber-ops curriculum -- Reuters

My Comment: I guess the graduating class will be also be "top secret".